NYMPHALID^. SATYRIN^. YPTHIMA. 233 



"Di/Ters from V. sakra in its smaller size, darker colour above and greyer below; 

 and may be distinguished by the difference of the apical ocelli on the hindwing, which in 

 Y. saha have no intervening yellow band." {Moore, 1. c.) 



This species seems to us to be but a casual variety of V. sakra. Taking the absence of the 

 yellow intervening band between the apical ocelli of the underside of the hiud^ving, as given by 

 Mr. Moore, as the test character, we have specimens of Y. sakra from the Eastern hills of Mani- 

 pur, Shillong in the Khasi hills, Sikkim, Simla, Pangi, and various localities in the Chumba 

 State which borders on Kashmir: while we have Y. nikcca from many localities in the 

 Norlh-West Himalayas, and a typical specimen from the eastern hills of Manipur. 



Of the specimens of Y. sakra, that from Manipur has only three ocelli on the uppkrside of 

 the hindwing, the apical one being absent ; those from Shillong have four ocelli, the one nearest 

 the anal angle being however minute or obsolescent, and one specimen (the one figured) has only 

 two ocelli ; the specimens from Sikkim are typical, having all four ocelli prominent ; one 

 from Chumba is also typical, with all four ocelli prominent j one from Simla has three ocelli, 

 the one nearest the anal angle being absent ; others from Pangi and Chumba have only two 

 ocelli placed between the median nervules (as in the Shillong specimen figured), the upper 

 one sometimes minute. On the underside there is more uniformity, all the specimens 

 having the five ocelli of the >^/w/w'/«^— two apical, three subanal— prominent, except in one 

 specimen from Simla, in which the ocellus of the upper median interspace is minute, and 

 another has this ocellus absent altogether, and one from Kujiar in the Chumba State has the 

 anal ocellus quite round with a single pupil. There is considerable variation in the dens'ty 

 and coarseness of the striation, in the tone of the ground-colour, and the prominence of the 

 submarginal dark band : the Eastern specimens are as a rule yellower, the striation is coarser, 

 and the submarginal band more prominent ; but there are exceptions to every point. The 

 FEMALE has broader wings, and the upperside is less uniform in colour, having frequently 

 a broad nebulous submarginal band of pale striae, these strise sometimes extending with more 

 or less density over the entire wing. 



The specimens of Y. niktea vary quite as much, but the occurrence of four ocelli on the 

 UPPERSIDE of the hindwing is very rare ; usually there are two, and frequently there is only 

 one ; the anal ocellus is generally altogether wanting, the ocellus between the lower median 

 nervules is always present ; the one between the upper median nervules is also found in both 

 sexes wherever the ocelli are limited to two in number, and occasionally there is a third ocellus 

 above the discoidal nervule. On the underside typically the ocelli are five in number 

 as in y. sakra, but frequently the ocellus of the upper median interspace is absent, leaving 

 two near apex and two near anal angle, presenting very much the appearance of Y. hyap-iva ; 

 the density and coarseness of the striation, the tone of the ground-colour, and the promi- 

 nence of the submarginal dark band, are all as variable as in Y, sakra. The female differs 

 from the male as in T. sakra. 



In both species and in both sexes there is occasionally a second ocellus on the underside 

 of iht /or ewiiig placed in the lower median interspace. The uniform brown of the upperside, 

 and the uniform striation of the underside, together with the large size, serve to distinguish both 

 Y. sakra and Y. nikcea from other species of the genus. 



Y. sakra w^as taken in the Manipur hills in May by Mr. A. O. Hume ; in Shillong it 

 occurs in May and also in September ; in Sikkim it has been taken at an elevation of 7,000 

 feet in September ; in the N.-W. Himalayas it has been taken in Chumba at 6,000 feet elevation 

 in April and May by Major C H. T. Marshall ; and throughout the hills at 6,000 to 8,000 feet 

 elevation it is common in the rains on grassy slopes and at the edges of forests. 



Y. nikcca was also taken in May in the Manipur hills ; and in the N.-W. Himalayas it 

 occurs in April and May, and throughout the rains it is extremely common at 6,000 to 8,000 feet 

 elevation in suitable localities ; <5ut of a large series taken by Mr. de Niceville at Simla there 

 is not a single specimen of F. sakra, and though by no means universal, Y. nikaa is evidently 

 the dominant form in the west, as Y. sakra is in the east. 



